Speaking
Learn More About Susan
She is an entrepreneurial creative at heart.
Susan spent her early years drawing and writing while her mother, an artist and regional theater set designer, told stories with her imaginative creations. Susan’s mother drove her to craft fairs where she and her younger sister sold her illustrated work.
She loves telling stories with data.
Susan’s father, an engineer who helped design the first weather satellite for NASA, encouraged her to learn how to use math to solve everyday problems.
She lived across the street from a medieval castle.
After earning her MA in Economics from George Washington University, she worked as a marketing intern for the Crédit Agricole Group. Susan walked past the Château d'Angers every day, admiring its gardens and ancient walls.
She learned that romance can blossom anywhere.
Susan met her future husband, George, in the computer lab of the New York University Stern School of Business. She was doing research for her MBA thesis about interest rate swaps. He was writing code for his doctoral dissertation.
She taught investment workshops on two Alaskan-bound cruises.
Susan and her husband George taught personal finance and investing principles to cruisegoers headed for the Inside Passage. Their classes were attended by large audiences except for the days when whales appeared alongside the ship to spout their stuff.
She read one book a week during her daily train commute to Wall Street.
She is still an avid reader because she loves learning and because she believes that reading makes one a better writer.
Her first book was published in 2004.
Susan received rave reviews for her seminal primer about financial risk management, published as part of the Wiley Finance imprint. Alas, Hollywood never came calling to buy the movie rights to her how-to book.
She won a writing award from Pensions & Investments, a Crain publication.
Susan grew her online presence to over 1.4 million viewers by writing actionable, clear, and relevant blog posts about the investment management industry.
She earned the designation of Certified Fraud Examiner.
The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners awarded this designation after Susan passed rigorous exams and demonstrated her experience as a forensic economist, having worked on multiple headline-ripping financial and investment fraud cases.
She created a motivational gift book about kindness.
She distributed several thousand copies of her book to literacy groups and non-profit organizations such as Read to Grow, Toys for Tots, and the Tunnel to Towers Foundation.
She never attended a UCONN Huskies basketball game in person.
Although she is an ardent Huskies fan, she only saw the famous hoops up close while attending the graduation ceremony for her PhD in finance. The doctoral robing event was held in the same Connecticut building where the famed Huskies play home games.
She presented on television and to live conference audiences.
Besides her interview on CNN about the pension crisis, she addressed business, finance, and legal audiences for groups that include the AICPA, American Society of Appraisers, Asset TV, CNBC, Dow Jones Private Equity Analyst Conference, Florida Public Pension Trustees Association, Institutional Investor Mid-Market CFO Forum, Institute of Internal Auditors, Moody’s Investor Services, National Association of Corporate Directors, National Center for Employee Ownership, New York Hedge Fund Roundtable, New York State Department of Insurance, OECD, Pension Bridge, Practising Law Institute, SWIFT International Banking Operations Global Forum, University of Washington Law School, and the World Bank.
She earned a Six Sigma Green Belt certification.
While doing work for General Electric, Susan completed the requisite courses to satisfy the requirements for a Green Belt designation. She continues to apply what she learned about improving work flow. Susan is a big believer in being organized, prepared, efficient, and transparent with her clients about budgets, deadlines, and the content goals they want to achieve.